Shinji, Who Traded His Little Sister for Lunch, Is Trash

She was nearly sixteen this year and already a second-year high school student. However, the entire high school division only had a handful of classes, making the school feel rather deserted.

Walking down the corridor, Ritsuka looked out over Fuyuki through the window with some melancholy. "After all, it went through two major disasters in a row. A small population is only inevitable."

She took out the key, opened the door, and entered the empty classroom. She had just passed the faculty office and gotten the key from the teacher on duty. Usually, the first person in class to arrive at school was the one who picked it up.

After opening the windows to air the room out, she took out a broom and casually dealt with the dust. Ritsuka's thoughts gradually drifted away.

It had been nearly five years since Kiritsugu passed away. She and Miyu had been living even more ordinary and frugal lives than when Kiritsugu had still been around, since their source of income was a major problem.

At first, the underage Ritsuka had relied entirely on Fujimura Raika's support to stubbornly hold on until she was old enough to take part-time work. With physical abilities far surpassing those of her peers, she could do the work of three people by herself, practically a legend in the industry.

The fire in New Capital ten years ago, and the Black Mud that swept across half of Miyamachi five years ago—those two disasters had severely reduced Fuyuki City's population.

Honestly, being a little deserted was fine too. Ritsuka had been taking Miyu to and from school for a long time, but with more people came more complicated situations. If someone with ulterior motives discovered Miyu's existence, that would be terrible as well.

The Divine Child's power disappearing from Miyu would not make things completely safe, because Ritsuka always remembered that something would happen to Miyu.

She could not remember the specifics, but she remained vigilant.

As she grew older, Miyu had changed greatly, so Ritsuka was not too worried about Miyu being recognized. She herself had also changed her appearance, even replacing her favorite loose long hair with a single ponytail.

She had never casually used mana anywhere outside the Emiya Residence...

Though her methods of concealment were quite crude, Ritsuka had never systematically studied Basic Magecraft, so this was all she could manage. She had no means besides violence.

In short, if she used her fists, Ritsuka could easily knock down more than a dozen grown men by herself. She had tested that with the Fujimura group.

But if it came to techniques and spells, such as using magecraft to disguise herself, then sorry—she had barely grasped even the most basic things. She had only learned a tiny bit of hypnosis magecraft, that miraculous everyday skill.

"Phew, that's about clean enough. Work's done."

Ritsuka wiped nonexistent sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, then neatly put the broom back in the corner, preparing to get an early start on her studies.

A figure appeared in the doorway. The faint morning light illuminated someone's back. "Senpai."

Before she could sit down, a soft voice sounded from the entrance. A slender maiden stood there, the breeze blowing in through the window lifting her long purple hair.

Her jewel-like violet eyes looked at Ritsuka. Their gazes met for a moment, and the maiden playfully blinked. Only then did Ritsuka react.

With a slight smile, Ritsuka glanced at the time and looked a little surprised. "Sakura, you're here so early today. Don't you usually arrive right before class starts?"

Hogwarts Academy's classes were fairly relaxed, and the high school division began at eight in the morning. Knowing Sakura's habit of sleeping in, Ritsuka knew she usually slept until she woke naturally before stumbling groggily into class.

So there was a teasing note in her words.

"Senpai, are you saying I'm lazy...? Hmph, so what if I am? Is it wrong to sleep until I wake up naturally?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes and puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction. Her adorable bun-like face made Ritsuka's fingers itch. She wanted to reach out and pinch it; it would definitely feel nice.

But she quickly cut off that incredibly tempting thought, returned to her seat, took a pink lunchbox from her bag, and handed it to Sakura. "Here. Today's lunch."

The insulated lunchbox held the meal Ritsuka had made early that morning. There were three portions in total, one each for herself, Miyu, and Sakura, all packed separately.

Highly capable at housework and accustomed to taking care of others, Ritsuka had always looked after Sakura, who was a year younger than her, including preparing her lunches.

Watching Sakura go from occasionally showing her withdrawn side to becoming practically a campus celebrity, Ritsuka felt comforted every time they spoke. Just seeing Sakura smile was enough. Their relationship had deepened far faster than she had expected.

Ever since she had given Sakura a Panda Plushie as a gift...

Hugging the lunchbox to her chest, Sakura felt its warmth and smiled with ease. "By the way, Senpai, are we still picking up Miyu together today?"

"Yeah. I even came early to clean today. Being an older sister is hard."

Ritsuka half-closed the classroom door and clapped her hands together, knocking all the dust off them.

Though she complained aloud, the happy expression Ritsuka unconsciously wore completely revealed what she was really thinking, making Sakura smile as well.

Who wouldn't like a cute child like Miyu?

"Oh, right. We still have some time. Little Sakura, do you want to go to the Kyudo Club with me?"

At a teacher's request, Ritsuka, who was also the Kyudo Club's captain, planned to clean the club's dojo while she was there. She could also draw the bow a few times to relax.

No reason not to use it when it was available. Now that she was captain, the Kyudo Club, with only three members, naturally followed her lead.

Hearing that, Sakura put her lunch into her schoolbag and gently nodded. "Mm-hm, I'll come with you."

They crossed the empty corridor, passing only two male students. Fuyuki City's population had not recovered, so naturally private Hogwarts Academy could not get enough students either. At this rate, the school might shut down due to a lack of enrollment.

But that had nothing to do with Ritsuka...

Swinging the dojo key in her hand, Ritsuka asked without turning around, "By the way, Sakura, don't tell me Shinji is still sleeping in?"

"My brother? He's probably still sleeping."

Sakura smiled helplessly. As a friend she had known for a year, Shinji had only one defining trait in Ritsuka's mind: lazy pig. Still, he was not a bad person.

He was an okay boy. At least when it came to Sakura, his attitude as an older brother was fairly proper.

"As the Kyudo Club's vice-captain, he can't be that lazy. Though Taiga did insist on dragging him in to make up the numbers back then."

Taiga Fujimura, the Tiger of Fuyuki, was also one of Hogwarts Academy High School's unique features. Their school required clubs to have at least three members, and getting Sakura to join had already been Ritsuka's limit.

Shinji was absurdly lazy. If Taiga had not glared at him and roared, he would definitely have been a member of the Go-Home Club.

When they reached the end of a corridor, Ritsuka inserted the key into the lock and froze slightly. The door she had locked last night was currently unlocked. Someone had entered after she and Sakura left yesterday.

Sakura and Ritsuka exchanged a look, then slowly opened the door and poked their heads inside. Squinting, they looked at the seaweed-haired boy who was cleaning...

Hearing the movement, Shinji slightly turned toward the doorway and listlessly greeted them. "Morning."

After a moment of silence, Ritsuka pulled Sakura back out under Shinji's puzzled gaze—

"The sky is falling! Shinji is actually cleaning on his own!"

"You're so damn loud! Bastard, if Taiga-sensei hadn't dragged me out of bed first thing in the morning, do you think I'd willingly come here?!"

The three of them began an energetic cleaning session in the modestly sized dojo. Even a certain forced lazy bum, who had nearly flipped the table, was working hard.

Holding a mop, Ritsuka wiped the dojo floor while Sakura tended to equipment such as the bows. The Kyudo Club had few members and little funding to begin with; the Student Council only gave it half the activity budget of ordinary clubs, so they had to conserve everything.

Although Ritsuka had not cared much about the Kyudo Club at first, after staying here for a while, she found having such a quiet place was actually nice. Kyudo itself was also quite stress-relieving.

She had decent talent, and once she got the hang of it, she shot quite well. Maybe she really did have a gift for it?

Japanese bows were very long. They had been awkward to hold at first, but she was used to them now.

Ritsuka raised the roughly 2.2-meter bow and naturally entered her stance. She stood straight with her arms hanging naturally at her sides. Since it was merely casual individual practice and she had no competitions to attend, she instinctively did not bother with too many formal movements.

Whoosh!

"Phew, my archery is pretty accurate."

With a slight smile, recalling a famous hilariously absurd scene, Ritsuka said something the others could not understand.

The arrow struck the bullseye squarely. Shinji, beside her, continued wiping the table as if it were nothing unusual, while Sakura lightly applauded. Ritsuka, having snapped out of her chuunibyou state, smiled awkwardly.

Taking the water Sakura handed her, Ritsuka and Sakura tidied up the area together, while Shinji carried a pile of cleaning supplies back to their proper places.

There was still nearly an hour before class. They pulled a small table to the center, laid out cushions, and rested on the spot. Cleaning a dojo several dozen meters long was quite physically demanding; normally, Taiga, with her boundless energy, led them through it.

But today, for some unknown reason, Taiga had dragged along Shinji, who loved slacking off and loafing around. The workload suddenly felt far greater...

After taking a drink of cool water, Ritsuka pulled out several long-hoarded bags of snacks, tore them open, and piled them on the table before turning toward the storeroom to get drinks.

At that moment, Shinji suddenly sprang into action. With swift hands and sharp eyes, he shoved his paw into a bag of chips, only for a ruler descending from above to smack his hand.

"Hiss! Sakura, what are you doing?"

Shinji sucked in a breath and glared at Sakura as she slowly withdrew the ruler. He looked utterly baffled, though there was even more annoyance in his disdainful click of the tongue.

He had been so close to succeeding!

Trying to steal a bite while Ritsuka was not looking was harder than escaping the blanket monster's seal.

Looking at Shinji's indignant expression, Sakura could not help sighing. Having such a brother was exhausting. "Brother, Senpai will get angry if you do that."

"Tch, there's only Senpai in your heart. You don't even care about your own brother, do you? I'm only sneaking a little food."

Like a monkey, Shinji scratched at his ears and cheeks in agitation. His stomach rumbled too. Taiga had dragged him out of bed before he had even eaten breakfast, so he was starving.

Seeing Shinji starting to stir again, Sakura slightly turned her gaze away. Shinji's eyes immediately lit up, but he did not notice Ritsuka standing behind him...

"Shinji!"

Ritsuka's right hand clamped directly onto the seaweed-haired boy's head. Expressionless, she unleashed a Grip That Would Not Die.

Shinji had just put a chip into his mouth and was crunching away happily when the pain made him bite his tongue. His body trembled nonstop. "It hurts! It hurts! It hurts... Bastard, let go of me already!!"

A moment later, after breaking free from Ritsuka, Shinji's eyes rolled as he came up with an idea—

"Right, Emiya, you made a lunch for Sakura today too, didn't you? How about we make a deal?"

"What?"

"I'll give my sister to you, and starting tomorrow, you can bring me a lunch too... Pwah—!"

A chop from behind came down. Completely unprepared, Shinji was slapped straight to the floor by Sakura, his head smashing into the wooden boards.

"Hey! Keep it down a little. You'll disturb the other clubs!"

The Kyudo Club door was pushed open, and a grim-faced man leaned half his body inside. He froze at the familiar scene, then spoke up, drawing all three of their attention.

"Julian?"

"Student Council President?"

Ritsuka and Sakura both spoke, instinctively greeting the unexpected visitor. Julian responded to each of them.

Casually slapping Shinji flat again, Ritsuka walked toward the doorway and stopped a short distance from Julian.

"Julian, did you need something?"

Looking at the overly familiar Ritsuka, Julian's expression darkened slightly. She was the woman he could not handle. In the past, he had wished he could stay as far away from her as possible.

Sighing inwardly, Julian raised his eyes. "Call me Student Council President."

"Come on, we're already this familiar. You really are stiff, huh?"

With a smack, Ritsuka's palm landed on Julian's shoulder. After taking a blow from the legendary strongest Part-time worker, Julian's face twisted slightly. He had absolutely no way to deal with someone like her.

"I did come to talk about something. The photography club next door filed a complaint. They said your club member, Shinji, screams strangely all day and asked you to restrain yourselves."

"Hey, hey! What does that have to do with me?! It was clearly Ritsuka... Mmph, mmph..."

Julian naturally knew what the real reason was. He glanced at Matou Shinji in the middle of the open space. The guy's mouth was currently being covered by his own younger sister, Sakura, leaving him unable to say a word.

Tsk tsk, what a miserable life. Julian, whose sisters at home were all "extremely obedient," inwardly looked down on Shinji.

Julian coughed into his closed right fist, took out a small notebook, and wrote as he spoke. "If there's another complaint, you'll be punished with a reduction in activity funding."

"Eh? We already get half as much as the other clubs, and you're cutting it further?"

The moment it involved funding for slacking off, Ritsuka's face instantly fell. She grabbed a bow from the side and warmly put the Student Council President in a chokehold with it.

Julian's face turned the color of pig liver as he was subdued on the spot.

But perhaps because it was too worn out, the frequently used bow suddenly snapped with a crack, breaking into two pieces. Only then could Julian roll away and escape Ritsuka's attack range.

"You bastard, are you trying to kill me?"

"Not really. But President, take a good look. I even broke our bow just to lock you down. This old thing's quality is seriously substandard. How about considering giving the Kyudo Club a little extra funding this month?"

Thick-skinned as ever, Ritsuka scratched her head somewhat sheepishly and said something that shattered Julian's worldview.

You broke something trying to kill me, and I have to compensate you for it?

Julian fell into confusion. Looking at Ritsuka's "kind" face, he once again acknowledged the fact that this woman could not be provoked. There was no chance to reason with her.

"Add some funding. Otherwise... I can give you a massage?"

Ritsuka slammed the Kyudo Club door shut, sealing off Julian's retreat. Her gentle smile made his heart tremble.

As for massages, there had once been a brave soul who had been massaged so hard beneath this cute-looking girl's hands that he nearly ascended to heaven in bliss. One of his ribs had even broken. The severity was horrifying.

The boy had originally said he would make her pay, but the very next day, he vanished from the school without a trace...

"N-No need to be polite. I'll give you the normal budget this month."

Only after receiving a satisfactory answer did Ritsuka open the door and let the president go. The world's most miserable president, Ichiyoshi Julian, could only leave at a jog with his little notebook in hand.

Watching that somewhat disheveled figure